Join me, Jill Nussinow, a.k.a. The Veggie Queen, the vegetable, vegan,vegetarian and pressure cooking expert (www.theveggiequeen.com) as I take you on a journey into the vegetable kingdom (or queendom). I'll share my travels and tidbits on purchasing the freshest vegetables and other great foods. As an alternative Registered Dietitian I often have health in mind but my culinary side enters the picture, offering great tasting food procured on a budget. It's food and fun, rolled into one.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Did You Say that the Figs are Ripe?

Some people attract money but I attract fruit and vegetables. This arrangement seems just fine to me since you can't eat money but you can eat produce.

Today I got my first dehydrator, used from ebay, and it works just fine. Not a top of the line Excalibur but it has an adjustable thermostat. I am currently drying persimmons.

My neighbor has a persimmon tree and one of the branches broke so I ended up with a huge bag of still kind of green persimmons. Since you can dry not quite ripe persimmons and get good results, I cut these and put them in to dry.Today another neighbor said the magic words: the figs are ripe. That is music to my ears. It didn't send me running to get them as I had a 2 deadlines to meet but shortly thereafter I went to pick. The fig tree is huge and because of how it's been pruned I don't need a ladder to reach the lower part of the tree.

I have been picking figs for years and consider myself an expert. The funny thing about picking figs is that it's hard to see them when you are in the tree, maybe more so for figs than for other fruit which proves the "forest for the trees" theory. And I am very particular about how ripe my figs are except now that I have a dehydrator I may pick some that are not quite as ripe as I usually want them.I just had a chance to try one of the best figs ever -- desert king. It is light green outside and bright red inside. If I had a place for it, I'd plant one of these in my yard. But for now, I am content to buy these occasionally and to pick my neighbor's black mission figs when they are ripe. I will surely enjoy them dried and canned this winter. I am going back for more as they ripen, and before the winter rains arrive. Oh, let's see -- what can I do with figs? Figgy pudding, fig bars, fig chutney, hmmm? Any good fig ideas? Just let me know jill@theveggiequeen.com.

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About Me

I am a pressure cooking advocate who is also a cooking teacher, Registered Dietitian and cookbook author and freelance writer. My goal is to get everyone to eat in a more green, sustainable and low-impact way -- more vegetables and vegetarian food, raw or quickly cooked in a pressure cooker. You can check out my website at http://www.pressurecookingonline.com and learn more about me and pressure cooking. I also have another website at http://www.theveggiequeen.com where you can look at my cookbook: The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment, and my DVD, Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look, Delicious Dishes in Minutes.